Tafsir of At-Tawbah 9:65

"And if you ask them, they will surely say..."

While the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was traveling during the Battle of Tabuk, a group of hypocrites were riding ahead of him. They said, "Look at this man; he wants to conquer the palaces and fortresses of Syria! How far, how far [from reality]!"

Allah informed His Prophet (ﷺ) of this, so he said, "Detain the riders for me." When he came to them, he said, "You said such and such." They replied, "O Prophet of Allah, by Allah, we were not discussing your affairs or the affairs of your companions; we were merely engaging in idle talk to pass the time during our journey."

"And if you ask them, they will surely say, 'We were only...'" He did not pay heed to their excuses because they were lying. It is as if they were admitting to their mockery and that it had indeed occurred, to the point that they were rebuked for the very nature of their mockery. This is because the object of the mockery is placed immediately after the particle of interrogation (innama), which is only appropriate after the mockery has already occurred and been established.

"Do not apologize; you have disbelieved after your belief." Do not busy yourselves with your false excuses, for they will not benefit you after your secret has been exposed. Your disbelief has become manifest through your mockery after you had manifested faith.

"If We pardon a faction of you, We will punish [another] faction because they were criminals." This refers to those who repent and sincerely embrace faith after hypocrisy, while We punish the faction that persists in hypocrisy and does not repent. Alternatively, it means: If We pardon a faction among you who did not harm the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) or mock him, We will not punish them in this life, but We will punish the faction that were criminals—those who harmed the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and mocked him.

Mujahid recited in tu‘fa ‘an ta’ifah (if a faction is pardoned) in the passive voice with the feminine gender. The standard grammatical approach is the masculine, because the subject is a prepositional phrase (as one says sīra bi-d-dābbah—"the beast was ridden"—and not sīrat). However, he looked to the meaning, as if it were said "if a faction is shown mercy," so he used the feminine. This is rare; the standard reading of the masses is in ya‘fu ‘an ta’ifah (masculine) and tu‘adhdhab ta’ifah (feminine). It is also recited as in ya‘fu ‘an ta’ifah, yu‘adhdhib ta’ifah (active voice), referring to Allah, the Almighty and Exalted.

"The hypocrite men and hypocrite women are of one another. They enjoin what is wrong and forbid what is right and close their hands. They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them. Indeed, the hypocrites—it is they who are the defiantly disobedient. Allah has promised the hypocrite men and hypocrite women and the disbelievers the fire of Hell, wherein they will abide eternally. It is sufficient for them. And Allah has cursed them, and for them is an enduring punishment."